Day trip from Barcelona that includes the Dalí Museum, Besalú and Girona

I have not, but I have at least been to all of those cities/towns, and I would not want to try to see all of them in one day. Perhaps Figueres and Besalu wouldn't be too bad if you don't mind a lot of bus time; neither one of those takes a lot of time to see.

I have a ticket for the Dali Museum at 9 tomorrow morning (I should be asleep now), so I don't know how long I'll spend there. However, friends spent multiple hours by the time they also saw the jewelry exhibit. The ticket also includes entrance to the separate Emporda Museum (mainly if not exclusively art, I believe) a few blocks away that you will certainly not be given time to see.

You can easily take the train to Figueres yourself. The TGV takes about 55 minutes. There's a bus timed to meet the train and get you to or near the museum, though if the train is delayed the bus probably won't wait and you'll need to take one of the waiting cabs. I'd guess the distance is about 1.5 miles, so the fare should not be high.

The train to Figueres stops at Girona. The station is about a 20-minute walk from the large historic area. The city's sights justify a considerably longer visit than one would need in Figueres or Besalu. I made my second trip there today and walked about 10 miles. I didn't walk on the wall since I had done that in 2016. I didn't quite hit all the historic-district streets, either. There's a nice art museum with some well-displayed architectural elements (such as capitals from columns), some ceramics, and art with a concentration on medieval religious stuff. There's also a Jewish-history museum that I didn't have time to visit. I don't recommend the city history museum for the typical traveler, because there's not much English explanatory material. The displays looked worthwhile for anyone who reads Catalan or Spanish.

Besalu has a small medieval center with a striking fortified bridge and some additional historic sights. Besalu can be reached by bus from Barcelona or Girona, but that is a slow process. I wouldn't try to combine Besalu with either Girona or Figueres if using public transportation.

OK. I've now been to the Dali Theatre and Museum in Figueres. I was the first person in the door when the place opened at 9 AM today. It was raining and a chilly 59F, which may have reduced the number of people who showed up early to buy walk-up tickets.

I suggest asking for a leaflet with a diagram of the museum so you don't miss anything, which would otherwise be easy to do. I didn't see such a leaflet, but I later observed members of a tour group with something in hand. I assume it had a diagram. The rooms are numbered (up to about 22), so in a pinch one could keep a list.

I had a few uncrowded minutes nearly alone on the ground floor before more people arrived, including at least one tour group. The ground floor was busier than the (US) second floor, but it really dropped off after that. By about 9:15 it was necessary to weave through clumps of people, especially on the ground floor. However, this was more an issue of taking a bit of extra time than of difficult access to the art. As usual, there were quite a number of people just standing around, taking up space, rather than looking at anything.

I would certainly recommend a 9 AM ticket if you can manage it, but at the moment conditions don't seem too bad. (However, this is by comparison to the worst of the sights in Barcelona.) Obviously, I have no idea how much worse the museum gets. There were a lot of French-speakers, but are they going to be spending part of their summer vacations in Figueres? I do not know.

I spent about 1 hr. 45 min. in the museum proper with no picture-taking. I don't think I missed anything, but the layout is convoluted. There's not a tremendous amount of explanatory material (what there is, is mostly translated into English), which made the visit faster for me than it would otherwise have been. It is not a small place at all, and I don't think anyone interested in Dali's work (which I really am not, particularly) would be satisfied with less time than I had in the museum--though much of what is on the top two floors is not by Dali himself--and I doubt very much that any mass-market tour also going to Girona and Besalu stops there for more than an hour.

In addition to the art museum (which has some jewelry and metalwork), there's a separate exhibition of Dali's Jewels in a different building very nearby. You will see the sign on the corner when you make the final turn toward the main museum. The Theatre and Museum ticket covers the jewels exhibition as well. I don't think buying a ticket just for the jewels is possible. I spent 30 minutes in the jewels exhibition because I took a lot of pictures. I got a feeling we were routed away from at least one additional room, so I think it's possible the visit could be longer.

I asked about whether one could visit the jewels before the art museum and was told one could. However, not having done it myself, I can give no guarantees. I don't know whether the jewels exhihition opens at 9 AM or later.

Update:

I went to the Emporda Museum in Figueres this afternoon. The permanent collection (currently on the top 2 floors) is all art: paintings, sculpture, drawings, watercolors. Each floor has a couple of medium-sized rooms, so it's not a time-consuming place to visit. I apparently have the same taste as the people who donated the works of art, because I liked an unusually high percentage of what I saw--which tells us nothing about the quality of the works. There's a Sorolla and a Dali (not a blatantly surrealist one, I would say), plus 3 or 4 surrealist works by others. I didn't pay particular attention to dates, but I don't remember anything from before mid-19th century, and most stuff was later. An hour with the art allowed me lots of time to take photos.

The first two floors are now showing a special exhibition about tne culinary activities in tne area. Tnere's a heavy emphasepis on Fernan Adria and El Bulli. There are working notes on development of new dishes (not translated), menus, and several videos, at least two subtitled. But the long interview with Adria is not subtitled. There's some English explanatory information on El Bulli as well as on two other historically-important culinary hotspots in the area. The exhibit seemed well done, but I think it's not of much interest to folks other than foodies, especially if they can't read Spanish or Catalan.

I do not, incidentally, recommend the restaurant at the Hotel Duran, which bills itself as a gastro destination and figured in the exhibit at the museum, though I didn't know that until after I dined there. I may have been unlucky with my lunch today, but I'd play the odds elsewhere, or at least avoid the seafood pasta on the menu del dia, which was underseasoned and served lukewarm rather than hot. There were other issues as well, which I wasn't expecting on a 25-euro weekday lunch in a restaurant with plenty of serving staff and only about 30% full.

Acraven, thank you so much for your detailed information on the Dalí Museum.

I looked all over the website today trying to find a docent-type guide option, but I guess that's not really needed. I'll look online tomorrow for a plan of the building and the galleries. If I find nothing useful, I'll just have to wing it in my best surrealistic way.

I decided the tour I asked about is too long, so it'll be train and bus for me. According to the website, advance museum tickets are only for groups. I'll be going on Saturday, so I'll have to go early, whine.

I was able to book my entry to the Dali Theatre and Museum ahead of time. I probably did it just 48 hours or so in advance, because I was dithering about whether to go to Figueres/Girona or Reus first. My US credit card worked (they don't always) and I received an electronic receipt with a smart code the museum folks scanned. I did write down the comfirmation number at the time of the transaction, just in case I had a catastrophic problem with my 4-year-old phone.